Between Dimensions
by Missiletainn
Summary: I, Alice, a tired high school student, have an unfortunate collision with a portal from the Outrealm Gate. I wind up floating on a piece of scrap metal in the middle of the Ylissean Ocean... Ah well, at least I get to miss that biology exam I didn't study for. Fire Emblem: Awakening self-insert. Rated T for language. I'm 100% avoiding becoming a Sue.
1. Chapter 1: Well That Escalated Quickly

This is inspired by Gone2GroundEX's story, 'Asleep'. His writing is awesome, I command you to read it! GO!

First self-insert into a game, what fun! Heh, I know most people avoid reading things like this, since of course, the insert sometimes ends up a Sue or Stu, but alas, I will fail to deliver a story like that, or at least that is my goal. I also didn't proofread since I was strapped for time, sorry ^^

Also, I know this game sort of already makes you a main character, but I wanted an ACTUAL self-insert, so I'll be sticking to the default white-haired, male 'Robin'.

ALSO, what do you think about pairings? Any suggestions? I don't know if I'll be pairing myself with someone, but I'll try to stick to what I did in-game, sort of. Flames will be used to toast marshmallows. Thanks for reading!

*****07/08/2013 EDIT: It's been awhile, and I've decided to rewrite this chapter, along with the second! I hope my writing's improved, since the rewrite took quuuuiiiiiite a big chunk of time. Oops, also, course language! You've been warned~**

- Missile

-X-X-X-X-X-

It was a typical night since the day my pre-ordered version of Fire Emblem: Awakening arrived in my mailbox, in all its plastic wrapped, artbook-included glory. My alarm clock let out a BEEP as the time hit the 3AM mark, startling me and causing me to let out a yelp, muffled from under the bedsheets. I mean, what the hell, why does it beep out like that every hour? And that damned loud, too? Those poor light sleepers wouldn't be able to get any shut-eye and would have to waste the 20 bucks they paid for the thing... I've played around with the settings and there is no way to turn the beeping off!

Aaaaanyway, back to what I was saying earlier. I was curled under the covers, eyes transfixed to the screen of my 3DS, watching in awe as I learned that 'oholyshiat, when you hover over Virion he flips his hair ermagawsh that is sooooo kewl hurdur'. ...As you can plainly tell, the lack of more than 3 hours of sleep per night might've been starting to get to my head. I was yawning incessantly, and before I knew it, my face was planted into the pillow, like an ostrich burying its head under the sand. Okay, well, that wasn't a very accurate representation, since I can't literally bury my head in a pillow because the cloth of the pillow would have to be able to-

I really need to shut up sometimes.

...And that was it. Nothing else interesting happened in my life. I just wasted a minutes of your life. Cue the trololol music-

Just kidding.

The next day, I woke up as preppy as usual.

"Damn, *insert long yawn* I hate mornings."

Ah, very preppy indeed.

I spent a good, long 20 seconds brushing my hair and putting it in its usual ponytail, threw on whatever relatively clean clothing I happened to have (a pair of black sweatpants and a white sweater), brushed my teeth and all the routinely morning crap.

As my 3DS charger is connected to the outlet right beside my bedstand, my 3DS was fully charged and ready for another day of constant button abuse.

I headed for the door and walked to the bus stop. Normal day, huzzah. Get on the bus, flash the driver my bus pass... Sit down and try to ignore the breathing on the back of my neck from some kid who was intently watching me finally S-rank Lissa and Donnel. Stop being freaked out by the weird guy in the jacket mumbling something about 'being prepared' to a little microphone in his jacket.

Mmhm, normal-tastic.

Oh, but then something not-so-normal-tastic happened. I heard someone say something about a 'door appearing out of nowhere'... There was a blinding neon blue light from somewhere near the front of the bus, and lots of screaming. Startled, I accidentally pressed the A button to the Outrealm Gate instead of checking my inventory, but that was definitely the least of my worries. I looked up, and watched in terror as some sort of weird blue portal opened up, right in front of my bus.

The driver was repeatedly slamming on the brakes and trying to pull over, but to no avail. Everyone was shouting and yelling and pushing and cramming, and seeing as that would be futile, I shrunk in my seat. Something exploded judging from the loud boom I heard, and I watched in terror as metal chunks of the bus were sent splewing everywhere, blood splattering the seats. Some people dropped down, dead. The boy staring at my support conversations? He had passed out, a giant piece of glass embedded into his side. I would have screamed, if I could. Acting on instinct, I quickly curled up into a ball and brought my backpack in front of me, only able to blankly gape as a steel rod ripped through the fabric, my biology textbook, a few lab reports and almost my stomach.

And as the screaming died down, the light became more and more blinding, my head began to throb harder and harder.

The weird thing, though? The whole time, I was having a bit of a day with this. This sounded so much like your typical, terrible, Mary Sue-infused fanfiction. You have a teenage girl who gets teleported to some parallel dimension... and before you know it, she becomes a fucking magical fairy princess, everyone falls in love with her, especially the leading canon male protagonist, and she saves the world from some monstrous evil in an epic array of pink ribbons, glitter and rainbow kittens.

...That was all in my head, though. I was probably being delusional. Waking up in some fictional world? Huh, can't believe thoughts like that were even crossing my mind at a time like this. Before long, and disrupting my 'this-is-hardly-the-fucking-time' thoughts, I felt something slam into my head, and I passed out.

-X-X-X-X-X-

When I came to, my first instinct was to punch my damned alarm clock, but instead of coming in contact with plastic, my fist collided with something very sturdy, sending a jolt of pain through my arm. Looking on the sunny side of things, at least that was a better damn wake up call than the clock.

'Open your eyes, Alice. Its not that hard. Cooome on.' I muttered to myself, groaning and lifting myself off the ground.

Ground? What ground?

The 'ground' underneath me wobbled as I sat up, and after blinking for a good minute, I finally figured out where I was.

'Oh look, I'm floating on a giant piece of scrap metal in the middle of a damn ocean.'

Haha. Ha. Not funny.

I frantically scanned the horizon, but the closest thing I saw to land looked to be really, really, really far away. Damn. Where the hell was I, anyway? And how the hell did I get here? What the hell did the bus do, drive off a bridge? Had I been out so long that I drifted out to the OCEAN?

My first though was to call someone for help. I pulled out my phone, and not surprisingly, it was almost cracked in half.

'Aw hell, I can't watch Youtube anymore without my PCs crappy Internet connection now can I...?' I chuckled bitterly to myself and shoved the broken thing back into my pocket, rubbing my head.

Ow. Sunuva bitch, that hurts. I pulled my hand away to check my fingers, covered in a sticky, crimson substance. I gently touched my head again, and sure enough, I could feel crusted blood in my hair. That's just great. 'Must've been whatever slammed into my head', I mumbled to myself. If I didn't get any medical attention... After all, this piece of scrap metal had rust on it, and the last thing I wanted to do was get tetanus.

Sigh. Well, my lack of phone left me with my only other option.

Plan B: Paddle.

I grudgingly flipped onto my stomach, dipped my hand into the surprisingly unpolluted water and slowly began my arduous arm-paddle to the shoreline, all the while trying not to move my bleeding head too much. It was a surprise I was still conscious. Felt like a crapload of blood, but what did I know?

Now, I won't bore you to death with the details of my 4-hour long journey.

-X-X-X-X-X-

"LAND! OOOOOH, LAND SWEET LAND, HOW I'VE MISSED YOU..." I exclaimed, dragging myself off the metal and this time literally stuck my head into the ground like an ostrich's head in the sand. I could barely move my arms, my neck was cramped as fuck and I was in serious need of some water. You get pretty messed in the head when you're stranded in the middle of this boundless plain of the stuff but unable to drink any of it. I lay there, motionless for a few minutes and almost fell asleep, but my raspy throat and still throbbing cranium kept screaming at me to get water and help. With a long sigh, I clung onto a nearby tree and arduously rose to my feet, depressed, and squinted in the distance.

Could my eyes be deceiving me?

NO, MY EYES HAVE SHOWN ME THE LIGHT! YES! WONDERFUL! HUMANITY! SOME PROOF OF HUMAN EXISTANCE! I didn't care much for the details, but I could see buildings, and that made me slap a grin right back onto my face.

And another fun, fun trek to the village. It only took around ten minutes, though, because I was fueled by my need for some food and maybe some medical attention. Surely someone would take pity on me and feed me something or send me to a hospital, right? Everything would be A-OK. After all, Canadians are wonderfully friendly people.

But alas, things never go the way I want them to.

As I neared the village, I could see some woman trying to get away from some burly dude with an... AXE? Who the hell carries axes around with them? And... And he looked suspiciously like the brigands from Awakening...

I gently slapped myself in the forehead. This wasn't the time to be a nerd.

As strange and mildly disturbing as that was, I suppressed my urge to investigate further and slunk away in another direction to quietly bypassed the two, when I heard a crackling sound. One of the houses was on fire, and the flame was spreading like, well, fire. Adrenaline, and a lot of it, was pooling into my blood, and I sprinted the hell away, eyes darting around to find help. Help, help... Why weren't there any fire stations? Why did this city look so ancient? Why were people carrying axes with them? Lost in my thoughts, I absent-mindedly ran in a circle around a few buildings and almost crashed into a fallen tree.

I need to get the hell out of here.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted another axe-man, and to my horror, he was holding a little girl and pressing his axe to her throat. ...Shit, what the hell is going on here?! I was absolutely terrified, and I doubt anyone else wouldn't be. Instead of doing anything to help, I quickly ducked behind the trunk of the tree. As much as I wanted to be a hero... I couldn't bring myself to do anything. I was too scared and valued my own life more...

Hardly the time to be philosophical, Alice.

He said something, the girl shook her head and I could see a few tears, then the blade of his weapon press harder against her neck.

I felt bile rise in my throat and more and more panic and fear settle in. Shit, what the hell am I witnessing? The whole thing seemed almost surreal. I hunched down lower against the trunk, praying to dear Ashera that he wouldn't see me as I devised a plan. And, being the easily pissed-off person I was, I wanted to help, but I was much too afraid. I stole another glance, and took a closer look at the little girl.

...I then proceeded to do one of my favourite things, which would be act like a huge fucking idiot.

I rose from my hiding spot and approached them. While yelling at the top of my voice.

"OI, BASTARD, ITS KIND OF PATHETIC YOU'D DO THAT TO A LITTLE GIRL, EH? YOU MUST BE A REAL PUSSY! DON'T WANNA STICK YOUR NECK OUT SINCE YOU'RE AFRAID OF GETTING A BOOBOO ON YOUR BRAINLESS HEAD, RIGHT? PICK ON THOSE WHO DON'T EVEN HAVE DAMN WEAPONS TO DEFEND THEMSELVES? HA! REAL MANLY AND STRONG YOU ARE, CHUMP."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them and my panick began surfacing once more. The man dropped the girl, who ran crying to her mother's outstretched arms. The girl, her mom and the axe-man all stared at me.

Aw, shit shit shit shit shit- WHY DID I DO THAT? The girl, the girl... She reminded me so much of my brother. Same facial shape, same black hair, but especially those eyes. They twinkled happily when he was joyful, they were large and round, and... ...thinking of my family wasn't a great idea right now. I'd break down in tears if I kept this train of thought.

He approached, axe slung over his shoulder and an extremely menacing look plastered his face. I shrunk back. The blade was crusted in blood, and I knew mine would probably be covering it in a matter of seconds. He smirked at me, venom dripping from his piercing gaze; I think I might have pissed him off a little too much.

He stood right above me and raised the axe above his head. My adrenaline finally kicking back into gear, I lunged to the side, biting my lip as the axe missed me by a mere inch. He raised it again, eyes locked onto me. Lunging to the side took barely any energy at all, but my hands were clammy, my head was ringing and I couldn't move anymore. Nearby, I could spot some more men coming from another area, all with weird medieval weapons.

Looks like this is the end of me.

In a futile effort to protect myself, I raised my arms in a weak attempt to block the hit, but was surprised to find that the man had turned around, back facing me and chuckling to himself, and was preparing to cleave the head off the child I just saved.

No. NO.

Stupid, stupid me. I ran as fast as I could, brought my leg up and rammed it with strength I didn't know I possessed into the crook of his knee. This caught him off guard, and he crashed to the ground, the axe whizzing into the air... And sinking deeeeeep down into my shoulder.

To be honest, I was surprised my arm didn't come off. Oh, but the pain. It hurt. It hurt a LOT. I screamed and crumpled to my knees, breathing through my teeth and choking on my saliva. I brought my good arm up to the injured area and cradled my shoulder, hand balled up into a fist. And I thought spraining my ankle was bad... This, this was almost unbearable, especially to someone with pretty low pain tolerance.

"Run! GET OUT OF HERE! GO!" My 'heroic' self-sacrifice wasn't going to go to waste. The woman, tears in her eyes, clutched her child and took off, glancing back at me and saying something that I couldn't quite catch in my state. The man rose back up, massaged his injured knee out and pulled his arm out to bash my skull in. I could vaguely see one of his friends was also approaching behind him, too. No doubt to join in on slaughtering innocent people. Disgusting. The last thing I get to see before I die? A brigand whose face a mother would only love, then a fist to my face.

I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my bottom lip, bracing myself... And felt nothing. I heard, though, a loud grunt of pain, and something falling to the floor. I cautiously eased an eye back open, and saw the brigand, face down on the ground and a sword protruding out of his back. Holy fucking shit, did I just witness a murder? There was way too much blood, and...

I momentarily forgot about the pain and the death as something hit me.

That sword... it looked suspiciously liked Falchion.

No, it WAS Falchion.

And confirming my theory, a blue-haired young man that I thought was the brigand's buddy stood before me, two hands gripping the hilt of the legendary blade.

HOLY SHIT. I JUST SAW SOMEONE GET KILLED, I ALMOST GOT MAULED BY A PSYCHOPATH WITH AN AXE, AND I'M STARING AT A FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

"Gods, are you alright? ...Ah, that was a stupid question. Lissa! There's an injured civilian over here!"

Ohmyfuckinggodwhatthehellisgoingon. This wasn't some crazy, out of hand cosplay skit I was unaware of, was it? I stared , dumbfounded, at his face, almost forgetting the giant axe in my shoulder.

Almost.

I could vaguely feel someone removing the axe from my shoulder, letting the blood flow freely from my gaping wound, SHIT that hurts-

I grimaced and tried to force down sobs, but failed and pathetically sniffled into my sleeve. Chrom placed a reassuring hand on my good shoulder and I heard Lissa chant something in a foreign tongue.

I thought I was going to faint for a second, but then my shoulder and head suddenly felt much better. I glanced over at my wound, and was surprised to see only a thin scar remaining. My head still throbbed, but I felt kind of... refreshed?

"There, that should do it for now... A-are you feeling a little better?" Lissa asked.

Now that my wound was feeling much better, I could ponder the next most pressing issue. These guys were fictional. Why were they here? How was I here? I just saw them kill someone! What the hell? This isn't damn possible-

"Er, hey, can you hear me? Miss?"

I quickly snapped out of my trance.

"S-sorry! I... Thank you..." I muttered.

Chrom smiled. "No problem at all. My name is Chrom, and I'm the leader of the Shepherds. The girl over here is my younger sister, Lissa."

"Milord, with all due respect, going about revealing your identity to people who we have not-"

Ah, Frederick the Wary. How typical. ...I'm taking this information way too well.

"Oh, Frederick, I know, I know, but she risked her life to save those two civilians out there, and that is enough for me to know that she has a good heart and can be trusted. Ah, and this is one of our finest, Frederick. He keeps us all in check," at this, Frederick sighed inwardly, "...Pray tell, what is your name?"

I'm getting complimented by the prince of Ylisse. Ngh. And I'm meeting everyone's favourite Jeigan/Oifey. ...Why me? Godammit...

"Oh, you're Prince Chrom, are you not? Ah! Excuse my, er, unpoliteness, milord! My utmost gratitude for your help! My name is Alice..." Oh man, fuck this ye-olde speech.

He laughed. "Chrom is just fine. I never liked formalities, anyway. I prefer being treated like a regular citizen."

I quickly nodded again, smiling despite all the questions swimming in my head, and saw a white-haired man approach from behind. He was wearing the typical Avatar robes. 'So this is the dude who can marry anyone in the army who is of the opposite gender...' Robin.

"Oh, and this is a new recruit of ours, Robin."

The tactician smiled and gave me a friendly nod. I smiled back.

If this is a dream, please don't wake me up. Oh but that's right, this wasn't a fucking dream. That axe hurt like a bitch.

Oh god, that means I need to seize the opportunity, join the Shepherds and beat the 'game'. Generally speaking, that's how we get out of these kinds of situations, right? These kinds of situations? Oh who am I kidding, they're out of my league.

Though, I didn't really care about that very much at the moment, to tell the truth. I must prove to them I'm useful somehow, meet everyone else...

"...I'm really sorry about your village, Alice. I'll see if I can borrow some money to help rebuild it." Chrom said, noticing my melancholic expression. I stole a look at the buildings around me. The fire had mostly extinguished, but the rubble that was left was far less mesmerizing than the dancing flames.

"...Thanks, but... I'm not from around here..." Trying to come up with some clever backstory here...

"Ah, really? That's strange... May I ask, are you a merchant? There isn't much other reason to go around to these sorts of towns. Judging by your... curious attire, you aren't a mercenary, either."

Crap.

"U-um... No..." Aw shit... "... ...I just woke up in the middle of the ocean on a piece of scrap metal." Honesty is the best policy? Well technically, I'm not being honest since I do know where I'm from but I don't know how I got here. Great. Now he thinks I've got the brain of a goldfish.

Frederick raised a wary eyebrow. "That sounds remarkably similar to Robin's explanation. Waking up in the middle of nowhere with no idea as to how you got here."

"N-no, I'm telling the truth! Really!"

He sighed and shook his head. Chrom, being the nice guy he was, believed me.

"It's alright, I won't question you about that anymore. I'm assuming you don't have somewhere to stay, then...?"

I paused for a moment. The most logical explanation for me getting back home was to somehow find that strange blue light I saw when the bus crashed... Otherwise, I had nowhere to go. I looked down and shook my head, looking as pitiful as possible. Cheap trick, but it usually works.

There was a moment of silence.

"I see... Then how would you like to tag along for a bit?"

FUCK YES. But before I had a chance to respond, the Shepherd's advisor quickly intervened.

"With all due respect milord, we have only known this girl for a few minutes, at most, and we cannot determine whether she poses a threat, like say, if she were to be a Plegian spy. For all we know, she could stab us in the back the moment the chance arises."

I looked at the brown-haired man pleadingly, but he wouldn't have any of it. Damn, Freddy, you're a tough nut to crack.

"Peace, Frederick. Again, she risked her life for Ylissean villagers. I trust her."

"We are already strapped for space in the tents, how will we fit more? She must have some way of repaying us taking her under our wing. From the looks of it, she is incapable of fighting, and we should be saving our resources for those of us who are risking their lives on the battlefield."

"That is a rather good point, Frederick..."

Aw, shit. I have no back-up plan, either-

"...but who could leave an injured, homeless girl lying around in a burning village to fend for herself? Plus, she technically DID risk her life on the battlefield, saving those two villagers."

Another long, nerve-wracking pause. Frederick finally sighed heavily. "...Touché, Milord. As you wish."

YEEEEEES. God dammit, this is starting off well, save for the whole shoulder axe incident...

"Thank you. I'd be honoured. I promise I'll find something to do to make myself useful." I forced myself to keep calm a bit, but a wide grin would find itself on my face. Chrom laughed and held out his hand, which I took eagerly, and hoisted myself up. As we were about to leave, I felt someone tug on my shoulder. I turned around, and saw the little girl from before holding onto my sleeve, her mother standing next to her.

"Hm? Oh, hello there, sweetie... Did the basta- er, bad man hurt you or your mother? Are you alright?"

Strange how my inner thoughts are like, well, THIS, and yet I speak like this to some people.

She nodded.

"I'm glad... I'm really sorry for what happened here."

She shook her head. "It's okay, miss! Actually, I came here to say thank you! You saved me and mommy! I... I know it's not much, but take this! It's the least we could do to say thanks!" She thrust a sack of money in my hands. I eyed it and could guess that if 1 gold was equal to one coin, I was holding at least 500 gold right now.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly..."

The mother stepped in. "Please, dear, accept it as a token of our gratitude. I saw you get injured back there, and..." she trailed off, looking incredibly guilty.

I knew this was quite a bit of money, especially for a small village like theirs. They would need to use it towards rebuilding the town. I could see that Chrom, Lissa, Frederick and Robin had stopped to watch. Pressure pressure pressure-

I smiled and shook my head. "...How about this? You use this money to rebuild your village, and as a thank-you gift, when I come back here again, you'll give me a tour! How does that sound?" I shoved the money back into their arms.

"Of course, we'd love too!" The woman said. Her daughter nodded in agreement and wrapped her arms around my torso in a hug. "Thanks, miss! When you come back, my ma and my pa and everyone will have this place looking good as new!"

I hugged her back. "I'll be looking forward to it."

With that, she pulled away and Frederick, who I had somehow coaxed a smile out of, motioned for me to follow the rest of the group. I jogged to catch up and we began our hike back to Ylisse, but not before turning back and waving. Despite all the crazy shit that just happened... I almost felt a sense of accomplishment. I made a change in someone' life, and whether this be all some kind of mental fabrication, maybe this whole ordeal wasn't going to be as bad I thought it was.


	2. Chapter 2: Scripted Fate

"So what's going on here, anyways...? W-Why are there brigands running around destroying the village?" I asked, playing dumb. Don't want them to think I'm some weird person who knows everything about the course of the 'game' and for some reason or other doesn't know how I got here. ...Now that I think about it, Robin's story IS weirdly similar to mine...

Frederick, still eyeing me warily but with a less intent gaze then before, answered my question. "These bandits are, I'm assuming, Plegian, judging by the impeccable accent. Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbour, and they have been sending small troops of bandits and brigands in hopes of instigating a war."

Chrom closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "That's why we're here, though, the Shepherds to protect the sheep, but really, it's not even the army who suffers, its the simple townsfolk who have to deal with it."

BOLLOCKS.

Aliiiiice. You've heard this in the game already. No need to get mad. CALM. Stay calm.

Oh, it's not working.

"WHAT?! How could they? What kind of sick people would do that?! They would slaughter innocent lives to start a war? Why do they even want to start a war? What good is that?! When was the last time there has been a war that solved more problems than it has created?! OH THAT'S RIGHT, THERE HASN'T BEEN ONE!" I stole a glance at Lissa, who had slunk behind Frederick with a frightened look on her face, "...Ugh... Gosh, I'm sorry. I get mad a little too easily," I stated, scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

Now they think I'm insane. Great.

To my surprise, though, Chrom started laughing. "Haha, oh Alice, I..." he tried to stifle his laughter, "..Haha, you just remind me of, heh, when I was younger. I seemed like a really nice person, and I was, but if someone made me mad I would fly into a rage and turn into an angry bull."

My right eyebrow twitched.

'Don't yell at him. Just pretend he didn't compare you to an angry bull.' I mumbled under my breath.

"...Um, Alice? Did I say something wrong?"

My right eyebrow twitched again and I cracked a smile. "N-no, it's quite alright." Whoo, I didn't kick him. That took a lot of self-constraint. Chrom just waved it off with a "okay, that's good" and continued walking. I followed behind, trying to calm down. Those anger management classes sounded really good right about now.

We were nearing the exit of the village, and boy was I excited. I'll be meeting all the Shepherds, and who knows, I might even get to stay permanently if I prove useful! Maybe I could ask someone to help me learn to use weapons! Ugh, probably not. I'm kind of pathetic when it comes to physical strength. Maybe magic? I'm pretty bright, I guess. Buuuut, the only person I could learn that from would be... Miriel. Gosh no. Or Richt. He's pretty nice. Hm. Oh, maybe Robin! He seems nice enough! I could also learn strategies too, and maybe help out! Then again, lock-picking sounds awesome. I could bribe Gaius with candy. Maybe bows? Virion would be eager to help any lady, right...? Or I could also learn how to wield staves with the help of Lissa or Maribelle- okay, maybe not Maribelle, but Lissa is really nice! Agh, but thinking about it now, when should I tell them the truth? I can't hide it from them for the whole time...

I'm pretty sure I was mumbling under my breath, because Frederick kept on glancing over at me suspiciously. I'm losing all my credit pretty quickly.

The next hour or so of the march was tiring, but I suppose that was a good thing. It was great motivation for me to drop the layer of fat I was carrying on my stomach, since I would probably have to be getting used to this. As the day faded away and night began to grow old, I could feel my legs giving way under me. Everywhere hurt. Paddling for 6 hours with a probable concussion, almost getting your arm cut off then trekking for another hour or so was NOT in my daily schedule. I wanted to voice my complaint, but Lissa did so in my place to save me the embarrassment.

"It's getting SUPER late... And the bugs are out! Ew, they're EVERYWHERE! Ugh, I'm tired and hungry and cold and I don't want to walk anymoooooore..." Lissa groaned, emphasizing each of her arguments with a stomp of her foot. Gosh how I wanted to do that too. I feel for you, Lissa.

Chrom chuckled, but motioned for us to stop.

"I think it has been quite a long day for all of us."

You can say that again.

"Now, Lissa, do you want to help me gather firewood-" He trailed off after seeing the vicious glare that she was sending his way. If looks could kill, he might as well have eaten a bomb and detonated it from the inside. He quickly looked to Frederick. "E-er, on second thought, Frederick and I can handle it and hunt for some game. You three just, um, clear a campsite." He then proceeded to grab Frederick by the arm and sprint away, all the while pulling a Sumia by tripping on nothing.

Damn. I didn't know Miss Lolita could be that scary.

Robin and I, with some sort of unseen telepathic communication, agreed to begin clearing away the rocks and sticks for the campfire, out of fear of whatever wrath Lissa would unleash on us. She was content with sitting there and swatting away mosquitoes.

After Chrom and Frederick had returned, we were just sitting around the fire, eating... bear meat.

To be honest, I'd normally be pretty disgusted, but it felt like days since I last ate. I think I might've vaguely heard Lissa ask me something, but I was much too busy eating bear. Mmm. It almost tastes like beef. And I do love me some good beef. I could see Robin gulping down the food in a similar fashion. Great minds, er, eat alike? That didn't make sense. Great mouths eat alike? That sounds really dirty. Great people, um eat-

Okay screw this, I give up.

Afterwards, my eyes started getting really droopy. I leant my cheek on my palm and willed myself not to close my eyes. ...Not working.

"...like BOOTS! Right, Alice- Oh."

I think I might be half-ostrich with all the face-planting I do.

-X-X-X-X-X-

"...ice..."

Yes, I do quite like the cold. Better than extreme heat at least. I like ice cream too.

"...lice... ake up..."

What? Your lice has make up? Strange little beasties indeed.

"...Alice... UP..."

No I will NOT go up. I'm afraid of heights.

"ALICE! WAKE UP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

"SNARGLEBLARGH! ...Muh... Mom... Five more minutes..." I shifted a bit but still tried to doze back off. And I was having such a wonderful dream too, about going to Ylisse and meeting the Shepherds. Eh, wait, isn't my alarm clock usually-

And then realization greeted me with a mental slap on the face.

I quickly shot up and jumped to my feet while successfully crashing into an extremely aggravated Robin.

Ooh, sorry Robin. I'll bet that'll leave a bruise. I've been known for having a er, bony head.

"Gods, Alice, do I look like your mother to you?"

Well, if I turn my head and squint a little...

I snickered. Robin's scowl deepened.

"A-ah, no, sorry, I'm just a really heavy sleeper!"

He rubbed his bruised forehead and groaned. "It's alright, I noticed... Anyway, we have to get out of here!"

And this is when I finally opened my eyes and saw that, well, the ground had cracked in half, the sky was a surprisingly beautiful shade of reddish-orange softly blurring into a pretty purple, there were flaming boulders flying through the air and there was a huge eyeball thing that had opened in the middle of the sky, and zaaaaambies were pouring out of its socket.

Weeeeeeeeeell shit. Let's see what I remember about the first chapter.

"Where are Chrom and Lissa?!" I exclaimed.

Oh waaaaiiiiit, they went off by themselves to investigate, right? Crap.

"I don't know but we have to find them! Come on!" Robin began to run, and he was a fast little critter. He probably had speed as his asset. I was having a difficult time keeping up, but the thought of me lagging behind and being eaten by a Risen was not so appealing. I could spot Frederick up ahead, galloping on his horse being the badass prepromote he was. I could also unfortunately feel sweat tricking down my neck and actually forming damn salt crystals on my skin and the hairs being singed off of my eyebrows.

This was a crapton scarier in real life than on-screen.

To my relief, Chrom and Lissa hadn't wandered off too far and we found them within a matter of minutes.

Frederick eagerly rushed to their sides. "Milady! Milord! Are you hurt?"

"Frederick... Robin... Alice..." Lissa, frozen with fear, looked at us blankly.

Robin frowned. "Are these monsters commonplace in these lands?!"

"They're certainly not from Ylisse, that's for sure!" Chrom replied, drawing Falchion from its sheathe.

Frederick readied his axe as well. "Thank the gods nobody is injured..."

"It was all because of the masked man! He saved me and- Huh?! Where'd he go?" Lissa exclaimed, looking around.

" We can worry about him later, Milady. Now, we must cut these vile... things... down!" Frederick glanced at me. I was kind of leaning against a tree, shaking. "Alice, I know this must be frightening, but please, try to remain calm," I quickly nodded, "...and I reckon you have no experience with weaponry, but if it comes to it, use this sword to defend yourself." He tossed me a sword and I watched as it skittered across the ground to land at my feet. I was surprised me trusted me with a weapon. I wanted to make a snarky remark about me literally stabbing him in the back but I decided that this wasn't the ideal time for being a sarcastic asshole.

He cleared his voice. "Now, we know nothing of the enemy, so everyone, stay alert and watch your backs!"

Oh gosh. I cautiously picked up the sword from the ground. Hm. Lighter than I though it would actually be. It's probably iron. Yeesh, but this thing is still pretty heavy. I poked the tip of the sword, and sure enough, a small amount of blood seeped out of a thin cut.

Aw, crud. I don't like this. I really don't.

Gripping the hilt of the sword in my two hands, I quickly sauntered my way over to Lissa.

"Are you scared?" Lissa asked, alert for any injured allies and avoiding coming close to the Risen.

No. No, Lissa, I'm not scared. That's exactly why I'm shaking like I've been trapped in a refrigerator for an hour and I'm trying to hide behind you. No. I'm feeling just fine. Yippee doo da. Just dandy.

Meekly grunting a 'yes' in response, I gripped the hilt with two hands and huddled behind her, eyeing the horizon like I usually eye Lindt chocolate when I see it in stores.

On other words, very intently.

I stole a quick glance at the fight taking place, and cringed as I saw Chrom plunge Falchion into the gut of one of the monsters. Lucky for me, though, there wasn't any blood, just black tendril-like mist. The creature screeched, twitched, then slumped over. Chrom kicked it off his blade and continued, quite casually considering he just stabbed a zombie-type thing.

Urgh, I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to this...

I quickly went back to lookout and turned around to face a... horse? Why is there a random horse out- Oh yeah. Sully. If Sully is here, that means Virion is here.

She was looking as awesome as ever, twirling a lance like it was a toothpick, with Virion following suite, arrow locked and ready to fire. She looked down at me, and I found myself relatively intimidated.

"Hey, you a new recruit?" She frowned, "...Ya know, people who can use a sword should be fighting at the front, not hiding back here like a wimp. Get your act together and get a damn move on!"

"I... er, I actually can't... use a weapon... I never-"

"Then why you even here?"

"Um, Chrom found me and he decided to let me tag along since I've got nowhere to stay-"

Uh oh. She's probably going to stab me now, isn't she?

To my surprise, she only giggled. Wait. No. Sully giggling? HAR. That's like... Gaius refusing to eat chocolate. That would probably be creepier than funny.

You know, if people could actually hear my inner thoughts, my head would be on a pike now in the middle of a blazing fire.

Sully, er, chuckled.

"Well better get your arse moving, because I won't go easy on ya during training!"

Wait what.

"...I thought this was temporary-"

"I dunno what you did for him to letcha join, but he probably won't be kicking you out anytime soon. He's just that kinda person."

She's like the Sully version of the interrupting cow. I haven't been able to finish a sentence while talking to her yet.

"Alright then, but-"

"COME ON! LET ME AT 'EM, CAPTAIN!"

And before I could say anything, she trotted off, gleefully stabbing Risen in the throat. I didn't even KNOW it was possible to stab anything with that kind of a facial expression.

...Oh I just can't WAIT to meet Henry and Tharja.

Somewhere, right then, Tharja swore as she sneezed and screwed up her hex.

I was about to jog on ahead, but...

"Please wait, milady!"

Oh, that weird wannabe French accent means only ONE person...

"My sparrow, this fighting and bloodshed is unapt for a woman of your beauty! Please, grant me the-"

Oh god. Must shut him up before he goes on rambling or I will be stuck here for the next year.

"Sorry, but this sparrow's got a few bugs to pick off!"

Ooh, that was a good one.

I could hear him beginning to protest but tried to ignore it and press onward.

Chrom and Frederick were demolishing a few Risen and were clearing a path ahead, while Robin was holding his own and taking out any Risen coming from the left. Sully and Virion picked off any stragglers left behind and Lissa was safely tucked away in between all three of them.

It seemed Robin was having a bit of trouble though, so I approached him warily.

And just in time, too.

He was trying to fend off the unyielding assault of two brigands and was struggling to land a blow. A few yards away, I could see something like an archer nocking in a bow and pointing it at him, waiting for the ideal time to launch it so it wouldn't hit any of his Risen pals.

Oh man.

I should have run up there and stabbed the guy in the head. I really should've. But I was too scared. Like most normal people would be.

Instead, genius Alice struck again.

...I flung the sword as hard as I could at the Risen.

And of course, like I was hoping, the blade hit him straight in the head and he died instantly. Chrom then wanted to recruit me for my epic sword-throwing skills.

Hahahahaha, no.

It somehow nicked the foot of one of the Risen standing nearby the archer, who fell backwards and landed on another archer, who let the arrow fly right beside the muzzle of Sully's steed, who neighed and charged into a small flaming tree, which made the tree fall over, which crashed into a fort and sent rubble flying at the archer who was going to kill Robin and lucky enough, one brick smacked him right in between the eyes and knocked him out.

...

Weeeeeeeell, that could've gone better.

Everyone just kind of stopped and stared at me, including all the Risen.

Needless to say, it was pretty awkward.

Okay, extremely awkward.

Robin quickly slashed at the two Risen near him and pulled out his tome, sending a stream of neon electricity and frying the Risen archer and his two friends that were trying to stealth kill him. After the effects of the magic on the terrain wore off, I quietly retrieved my sword, which was somehow unscathed by the lightning bolt.

On a completely unrelated note, that magic looked really, really cool. I think I may go on the path of the mage if I DO stay permanently.

My first instinct was to make sure Robin was alright. He seemed fine, albeit very tired. Sully and her horse were a trifle burnt, but Lissa was patching them up quickly. Chrom and Frederick had taken out the rest of the Risen already. I coughed uncomfortably and jogged to where Robin was. He was kneeling on the ground, panting. Poor guy must be dying of exhaustion.

"Robin, you alright?"

He nodded wearily as I helped him up.

"L-let me just ask you something," he wheezed, still trying to catch his breath, "...Huh... What did you just do?"

"Um, well I saw an archer in the corner and he was aiming his bow at you, so I..."

Oh crap. He's going to think I'm an idiot.

"...I kind of threw my sword at him."

...

Um...

Robin?

To my surprise (and relief), he smiled and laughed. "Although you did it in a... rather inefficient way, you did save my life. Thank you, Alice. I owe you." He patted me on the shoulder and motioned toward Chrom and co, along with 'Marth'."We'll talk about that later. For now, we should join up with the others."

While Chrom had his his discussion with 'Marth' (and I was very tempted to let him know the exact details of Marth's whereabouts), I zoned out.

It was strange. I've been here for less than a day and I saved Robin's life.

What would've happened if I wasn't there?

I frowned and began chewing away at whatever nails I had left. The thought of it worried me.

Maybe Sully would have arrived faster, because she wouldn't have spoken to me, and would've taken care of that archer. Virion could've also snagged him in the head.

Now that I thought about it more, what if I did something that would change the course of the game? What if I changed the course of 'destiny'?

Like Robin says, 'we're not pawns of some scripted fate. It's the invisible ties we forge that bind us.'

I truly wanted to believe those words.

-X-X-X-X-X-

Thanks for the support, guys! I really appreciate it! I think I'll be updating bi-weekly, since I've got much schoolwork to do, being in IB and all. I know this chapter was a little on the short side, but I'll try to make up for it! Sorry for not proofreading (AGAIN), I was doing this intead of science anyways and I didn't want to completely fail my test... ^^

Also, here are my responses to those who reviewed:

Nocturnea: Oh please, don't be modest. Your writing is amazing! Heh, well I guess you're right. It's pretty hard to do that with a self-insert. And thank you for the welcome!

Fan person: Short but sweet. I'm glad you like it!

Browncoatjedi: Aw bullocks, thank you, but I think yours is much better. You haven't played Awakening? Goodness me, you must! YOU MUST! I was going for the humour thing, and I'm glad you found it decently funny. Thank you very much and I'm really glad you liked it! ^^

Randomreview: Hah, thank you! The thing is, I would LOVE to tone down my attitude, but I actually do get mad really easily in real life and I am shamelessly going to admit I would do exactly what I wrote. Heh. And about the pairings, thank you for the advice! I still *might* pair myself up, but I won't do the whole googly-eyes lovey dovey crud because I can't. I'm already terrible at writing romance as it is, heh.

Kingawesome: Thanks, and I think I will be doing Chrom x Sumia, since IS basically ships them together. I like the idea of swords and magic. And to be honest, I didn't think about the whole, ahem, spoiler-tastic destiny stuff, thanks for sparking up some ideas!

Account-less: Yay, I'm glad you found it funny! Thanks for the support!

Archsage12: Wow, we must be secretly related or something... And thanks so very much! I really appreciate it!

Toytoya: Ha, thankies!

Rinoreiri Murino Hitsuzen: Heh, I'm glad you think so

Gunlord500: Thanks for the review, Gunlord! I'm glad this was relatively amusing, and I'm trying to find some way to make this more... unique. I hope to add more plot twists and I'm also trying to not stick too much to in-game dialogue or that'd bore everyone to bits.

ExposedWiresExposedVeins: Thanks for the welcome, EWEV! You haven't played it yet? You should, its pretty amazing, heh. Anyways, merci for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind!

Gingalain: Yay! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint... Thanks very much!

SO MUCH THANKS... I think I'll just send PMs to you all, this was an extremely long authour's note.


	3. Chapter 3: Realisation

**Firstly, short chapter is super short! I'll have a real chapter up relatively soon, I just wanna say_ I'_**_**M ALIVE**_**.**

Ah, it seems the last update was... A good few months ago. Oh gods, I've been busy as hell, and I'm soooooooo sorry I've been taking ages to write. I had exams, and now I'm taking an extra credit course for 3 weeks... But after that, I'll try to boom and update a lot more frequently, at least until summer ends. This is also going to be a shorter chapter (when I say shorter, I mean really, really short. Less than a thousand words) since I wanted to let you all know that yes, I am still alive. Again, thousands of apologies!

**For those of you who followed a loooong while ago, and probably forgot what was going on, I actually went back and rewrote the first chapter, and I'll be rewriting the second one sometime soon. I think my writing's improved a lot since then, and I was actually cringing a bit when I saw my old stuff. If you have time, go back and reread? I think it's a loooot better than it was before.**

So sorry! ;w ; I love you aaaaaall.

- Missile

-X-X-X-X-X-

It seems that after every single battle thus far, we always continue marching. I wasn't very... fond of that trend, and my legs were especially difficult today. Their means of protesting? Every single step I took resulted in a weird sensation, that of having a dagger stabbed repeatedly in your thigh. Needless to say, not the nicest feeling in the world.

Heaving a sigh, I dragged my feet behind me as I trudged forward, too tired to care about my surroundings. I had absent-mindedly been clutching at Robin's arm the entire time, half-asleep. He had stayed silent the whole time, so I guess I must have forgot he was there and I nearly pissed myself when he spoke up.

"So this is Ylisstol, capital of Ylisse!" He exclaimed, glancing around. This is when I finally took the initiative to painfully raise my head and fully open up my eyes, wiping my sweaty palms on Robin's jacket (much to his dismay) since I'm an enormous dastard.

It was spectacular. There were old buildings littered everywhere, stalls selling all sorts of trinkets, and garlands were hung from structure to structure. I could see children running around, fighting each other with sticks, people laughing and dancing, bards, performers, singers, musicians... I truly felt as though I had stepped back a thousand years. Overhead, the sky was a magnificent shade of blue and the sun's rays cast a warm glow on the surrounding scenery.

I could only stare in awe, mouth hanging open. Breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking. You'd never see anything like this back... back on, well, Earth. Civilisation had overrun nature, the skies were a perpetual murky colour, yet this... I hated going outside and exploring, but I had to fight a strong urge to do just that right now. Perhaps we'd get a chance to sometime soon...

Not much later had we arrived when I heard trumpets blaring.

"What in the blazes...?" I mumbled, casting a quick glance toward the source of the noise...

Of course, it was the Exalt, Lady Emmeryn herself. The game really didn't exaggerate her peaceful aura, either. I immediately felt a sense of warmth when she smiled and waved at us, even if it wasn't directed to me in particular. She was surrounded by paladins, and they seemed to be heading uproute, toward the enormous palace that lay right in the middle of Ylisstol.

I was too amazed to pay attention what Chrom and the others were talking about, and before I knew it, I had been whisked away to the palace. I only realised where I was when I could hear doors shutting behind me and the chatter of citizens coming to a complete halt.

We were standing before the Exalt herself. I immediately gulped and tried patting down my hair to look more presentable, brushed specks of dirt off my clothing and wiping the sweat off my nose with the back of my hand.

Chrom, Lissa and Frederick took a few steps foreward and spoke to Emmeryn. I couldn't quite catch what they were saying, and all I could do was exchange a nervous glance with Robin.

...Robin. Exchange a glance with Robin.

...Then there was Chrom, the prince of the halidom.

Lissa, his sister.

Frederick, the advisor.

The Exalt, Lady Emmeryn herself...

Ylisse, a beautiful country.

Risen... Risen will soon come. They'll ravage the city, slaughter hundreds of people, bring a new age of doom to the peaceful lands.

Soldiers. We'll have to deploy soldiers, they will risk their lives, thousands will die trying to protect loved ones, millions will suffer the consequences. Childer will be born during this era of strife, burdened with rebuilding a peaceful world they've never seen-

There will be fighting. Killing. Death.

Grima.

**_I knew how things were supposed to play out..._**

The rest of what happened was a blur. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the exhaustion, but I could feel my head spinning. Too many thoughts had flooded my mind, and the dim realisation of what was to come hit me like a wild animal. I knew EVERYTHING. I could predict everything that was going to happen, the good and the bad...

_**...But your destiny isn't already set out for you...**_

Right then and there, in front of the Exalt, I slumped over. The last thing I remember was someone shouting my name.

_**...Is it?**_

-X-X-X-X-X-

Crappy update is crappy.

**I'm working on the real chapter 4 though, so! Once more, I AM alive~**

**And gods, 41 reviews? For only 2 chapters of my story? 32 favourite and 39 follows? Gods you people are too generous! Thank you so very, very much!**


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